The King suddenly commanded for the former King’s official to enter the palace.

He entered the palace with a puzzled mind.

He was very nervous.

Hwon started to speak:”We haven’t met in a long time.

"Ye…s. That’s… right.”

"You must be the former King’s confidant.”

"Ehh? Yes. Even though I do not know what the reason is, please ask.”

"I must head to the court soon, so I will make this short. I want to know about the selection of Crown Princess 7 years ago.”

Hwon stopped talking in the middle of his speech. The former official body stiffened. Hwon continued.

"All I said was the selection of the crown princess, and you know what I am about to ask.”

"I… I do not know what you are trying to ask..”

Hwon shut his mouth. The ex-official was so scared that he almost couldn’t breathe anymore. Only then, Hwon opened his mouth again.

"I am talking about the crown princess that was selected! Heo Yeonwoo. What was the reason of her death?”

"I do not know. I could not have known anything.”

"Uh hur. That’s weird. Everyone knew that she died from an illness, yet you don’t know. Does that mean she did not die from illness?”

The ex-official was so scared, he started stammering:”Oh… I… I remember now. Because I am old now, so I couldn’t remember. I remember it now, she died because she was sick.”

"Absurd! Who do you think you’re sitting in front of now!”

Because Hwon raised his voice, the ex-official became even more nervous than before.

Hwon calmed his voice down and said:”If she didn’t die from being sick……… then could it be that she was murdered?”

"No! How can you say it like that? Back then, even the royal doctor saw her condition. He said she got an unknown illness.”

"You just said you did not know not too long ago, you suddenly regained your memory? Seeing that you even remembered the royal doctor, you should also remember that after she died, the former king had a book with confidential information he had investigated right?”

Before hearing the question, he knew it would not be simple. The ex-official was so scared that his legs could not even shiver any more. His legs were no longer numb, and his mind was blank. Anything related to talks about the ex crown princess was scary to him.

"Tell me! Do you remember about the Book already?”

"I do not know anything.. Even though I worked closely with the former King, but how could I have looked at his secret book. That book was only read by him.”

Hwon grinned. Woon, who was by his side, strengthen the muscles at his hands. The book was only a speculation in the past, but now, it is reality. The ex-official already made a mistake by saying Yeonwoo did not die because she was sick, and also about the book’s existence. Hwon started talking with a majestic tone.

"Okay, you can go home and wait first. I will summon you back later.”

The ex-official knew that he had leaked to many information, and was really worried. After he left, Woon asked Hwon:”Why did you stop questioning him?”

"You don’t know this guy. If I continue to ask him, he will probably commit suicide by biting his tongue. I summoned him here, just to ensure that my thoughts were right.”

Now, Hwon knew that he was right. Hwon did not know how to continue his investigation… The worse thing was that he could not openly investigate this. Hwon was angry because he did not know about how Yeonwoo died. He sighed and then asked HS.

"Where is wol?”

"I think she should be sleeping.”

"Where?”

"Should be somewhere near the Shaman hall.”

"Shaman hall? Ah, I remember. The professor told me a few days ago that the Head shaman is coming back? He said something like that.”

Hwon carefully thought.

"HS, let’s go to the shaman hall.”

"No, his majesty. You cannot just go to the hall of the shamans, you can only call her to come over.”

Hwon did not care about HS’s words and stood up.

"Why should I disturb Wol’s sleep? I only want to see her for a bit.”

Hwon already walked far away, and as such, HS did not have time to think, but to follow suit. Hwon went to the shaman hall, making all the Shamans panic. He then saw the calm Shaman Jang, who greeted him with four bows on the cold floor. He took this chance to question Shaman Jang.

"You are the famous Shaman Jang right?”

"Yes, your majesty.”

"I remember the Head shaman position was left empty for a long while. Where did you go?”

"I don’t think this is really what you want to ask right?”

He could sense an unusual vitality coming from Nokyoung. He knew she was not a simple person. and therefore stopped in his steps and asked:”I’ll ask again. I heard you left your position seven years ago. Why?”

"Because of the divine powers. The divine powers told me that if I do not leave this position, something bad will happen.”

"Seven years ago, three professors asked for poisoned to commit suicide. At that time, you should have still been here. Do you know why?”

"I too do not know what really happened. What I remembered was because of their mistake, they made the former King upset, and therefore decided to end their own lives.”

Hwon started to get suspicious. He knew that she knows more than just this. However, because Hwon does not know much about the whole event, he could not ask about the Crown Princess Selection issue immediately.

Anyway, at this point of time, the person he wanted to ask about was Wol.

"Was it you who took Wol in?”

Nokyoung started to panic as he suddenly changed the subject. However, she calmed down quickly.

"Yes.”

"I want to know where did you find her, and when was it?”

"I picked her up by the streets.”

"You can actually pick up such a pretty girl on the streets?”

"Pretty, yes. But it is a true fact that I picked her up by the streets.”

"From her accent, I know that she comes from Han Yang. So, you picked her up in Han Yang?”

"I am not sure whether she lived in Han yang before, but I found her in Onyang, and picked her up because I could feel her mystical powers.”

"As a Shaman, you should be able to look in to her past, isn’t it?”

"What past could she have had, before having her powers? And her fate is to be a Shaman(that absorbs the bad air). So, I did not give her a name. As such, how could I know about her past.”

"I do not understand.”

Shaman Jang tried to explain calmly, but Hwon was lost in his thoughts.

He sorted out his thoughts and then said:”I heard that the shaman hall’s registry is organized by you. However, you left this place 7 years ago. As such, how come this child was able to be registered in the registry 6 years ago? Also, I heard that it is more competitive in the Shaman hall(Sungsuchung) here than other places. Only highly skilled shamans can enter this place. Her powers do not seem to be so good, so, how did she manage to enter this shaman hall?”

"Mystical powers are not something that you can see with just your eyes. That child has the divine power, and as such, she was able to be registered in the registry.”

"So, you’re trying to say that you used your powers to get her written in the registry? Then, how can you write her in the registry as someone with no name? And, why did you not send her to the Shaman Hall immediately?”

"That’s…. because she is a shaman that absorbs the bad air.

"She was selected to be that shaman four years ago. This means that it was only known 2 years after she was registered.”

Shaman Jang could not say anything else. She did not understand why the King must ask everything in so many details. The questions were to deep to just say that it was because of curiosity. She did not understand the King’s thoughts.

Hwon shouted at her, because she did not reply him.

"What are you hiding from me? You definitely know her real name and her past as well! Why must you hide? I do not understand. Why must you hide it from me? I am more curious about why you must hide her name, than her name itself. Tell me the reason immediately!”

"I am not hiding anything. So, there is no reason.”

She is not a normal woman. She did not change her tone after hearing the King’s loud tone. Hwon knew that asking one more time, would waste his precious time. As a result, Hwon decided to stop asking for now.

"Where is Wol?”

"She’s sleeping in the room behind.”

"Please guide me to where she is.”

"Your majesty, it is time to go to the court. The ministers should have gathered there already.” HS said.

"I know, I will just catch a small glimpse of her.”

Following the route led by shaman Jang, Hwon finally found the room Wol was in. There is a pair of shabby looking straw shoes outside the room. Woon’s heart ached. Hwon, who was looking at the room’s surroundings, softly whispers to the servants around him:”Be careful about your footsteps. She might wake up because of that.”

Because the servants around him were hastening Hwon, Hwon did not even go into the room, and left for the court. Even though he wanted to protect Wol while she was sleeping, just like she did for him, but because he was rushed, he could not.

Woon’s love for Wol was growing thicker and thicker. He was in a dilemma. He knew that Wol was the woman Hwon loved, and if he were to choose Wol, he will be hated by Hwon. If he chooses Hwon, he could not bear to not love Wol. He used his strength to swing his cloud sword, but the one he dumped was not his heart towards Wol, and was instead, the reality he was trying to run away from.

After practicing with his sword, he still was unable to sort out his feelings. Because of this, he came to Wol’s room in the shaman hall without even realizing. Woon looked at her straw shoes one more time. At this moment, he could feel that someone was behind him, and he immediately pulled his sword out and put it on her neck. The person was Seol. He realized it was Seol, however he did not put down his sword, and instead, he pressed it with more force at her neck. Seol panicked, but laughed and said:”Put your sword down. I have not done anything to deserve it.”

"Did we meet at the prince consort’s house before?”

Seol laughed and said again:”You recognized the wrong person. I do not even know where the prince consort stays at.”

He continued to use more force to press his sword at her neck. Because Seol was scared, and could not say the truth as well, she quickly pulled the sword on her body out. Because of what she did, Woon became more curious.

"Did you not say that I recognized the wrong person?”

The two of them started to fight with their swords.

"Where did you learn swordsmanship?”

"*** (it can mean F**k, Shit, Damn). So you’re testing me. No wonder it felt so easy fighting with you.”

Seol finally realized why Woon used his sword on her. But it was too late to regret.

"Your way of using the sword is my master’s. However, my master did not have any female disciple. Where did you learn it from? "

"I learnt it by myself. It is just pure coincidence that our swordplay is the same. Also, please put down your sword. If you continue doing this, you will chop my head off.” (Because Woon’s sword was still on Seol’s neck.”

Woon did not move his sword one bit. Seol laughed as she said:”Well, you can continue being like this, but my missy looks like she’s scared.”

"Because her swordsmanship was similar to mine, so I thought it was weird….”

"It should be just a coincidence. She learned it when she was just playing around with her sword. It’s impossible for her to have the same kind of swords technique as you.”

Seol interrupted and said:”Maybe our techniques are the same, but our strengths are worlds apart. I finally realize why the world says that no one can compare to Woon’s swordsmanship. It’s my honor to be able to fight with you.”

Even though Woon wanted to disagree, he did not continue to speak. He was afraid that others would have realized that he came here, so he went back. On the way back to the King’s palace, he suddenly stopped in his steps. The prince consort’s place, similar swordsmanship, and……………that servant! It seemed to have figured out something.

When Yeom and Woon were younger, they always practiced their skills together at Yeom’s house. After studying and discussing about papers together, the two of them will automatically go and practice their sword skills together. They had their sword master since young. As a result, Woon’s swordsmanship was always really good that he started to teach, Yangmyung learned it well soon enough, however, Yeom never was able to master it.

Yeom said back then:”I think I will never be qualified enough. Even Yeonwoo’s servant was able to learn the skill by just having one look. I’m actually even worse than that child.”

"Are you saying servant?”

"She always secretly looked as I practiced, and she sometimes told me how you taught when I was practicing.”

Yangmyung started laughing loudly.

"Hahahah Yeom ah, I always knew that you aren’t qualified enough, but it never crossed my mind that you were worse than a female servant! HAHAHA.”

Every time, after the three of them chatted together, Woon would always sense someone was spying on them. He thought that it should be that servant. However, gradually, there was no news of that child anymore.

Woon stopped in his steps, and thought carefully again. "From when onwards did that child stop peaking at us? It was the time when Yeonwoo died. Maybe it was during that time where she was sold to another household. If that’s the case, then it’s understandable that she goes to the prince consort’s house and has the same kind of sword techniques. But why did she lie about not knowing where the prince consort’s house is?”

Several officials came running up at down near Woon, who was still caught in his thoughts. As such, he could not continue thinking about the whole issue. The officials were running hastily to the court. At that moment, Woon had a strange hunch and quickly ran back to the King’s side. Fortunately, nothing happened to the king. However, his ease was short-lived. The officials that were running hastily just now passed a message through the retainers. After hearing the message, the retainer’s face changed color and reported to the king:”Your majesty, the Royal Investigation Bureau just….”

"What happened?”

"The former King’s official committed suicide a while ago.”

"What?”

Hwon turned frustrated. He did not even ask the ex-official much. At first, he was speechless, but slowly, his head was filled with suspicions. The former King’s official committed suicide because he wanted to hide something. His death helped Hwon understand one thing. That is the reason as to why the King had a secret book. The former King’s official had to die because of only one reason. Even though Hwon could not clearly pinpoint what it was, he knew that the people that were involved in Yeonwoo’s death were certainly from the royal family. Murdering a crown princess is high treason, and therefore even if it’s someone from the royal family, it is impossible to resist the punishment of the act. As a result, the King had no choice but to hide the secret book.

The question is, who was it from the royal family? It must be someone who got a lot out of the death of Yeonwoo. That was no other than the Great Queen Dowager, the former King’s mother. However, Hwon was unable to prove this point as he had no evidence.